QuestionQUESTION: I am looking to trade in my 2007 Mazda RX8 because my wife and I need a more practical vehicle for a kid on the way. My problem is this. 3 months after purchasing the car new in 2007, I hit an ice patch and slid off the road, running along a chain link fence. As a result, the front bumper and headlight were replaced and half of the car was repainted due to minor scratches all over the side. The physical damage to the car was really very minimal, but the shop ran up an insane labor bill. In total the damages ended up landing around $15,000.00. All was well and good, and the car looked better than new when I got it back, but when I went to trade it, the dealer came back and laughed at me explaining that just about every panel on the car had been repainted or re finished to match the paint job. Now nobody will touch the car. This car has been well maintained, and is in immaculate condition, still only having about 15,000 miles on it. What can I do? Private party sales have fallen through when I personally run the car history for people and tell them the whole true story. Dealerships won't take it as a trade either. This car is essentially brand new, and even has a show-quality, dealer perfect paint job. I'm willing to sell the car for much less than the value, but what options do I have here? Any information you could provide would be great. Is there a way for a dealer to "re-certify" a car, or possibly have it re-inspected to legally clear the title? What about car auctions? Surely someone must want a great sports car for a great deal???
ANSWER: Well, I am not sure if I am understanding you right. Did you get issued an insurance dated title? If the damage was enough that you received an insurance dated title, then you got problems, and you should have been made aware at the time of the repairs what you were up against. Apparently it shows up on carfax, or something comparable. I dont really know how to answer this without knowing the title situation, if the title is still green, I dont see what the problem would be, if the title is now an insurance dated title, you got problems, and you should have been made aware of this from the insurance company at the time of repairs. If you will verify the title situation, I could probably help you better further, let me know exactly what all is connected to this vehicle regarding the damage incurred. I am sorry, but it is just two different worlds pending what they did.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thanks for your reply, and my apologies for any confusion. I was never issued an insurance dated title. When I run a CarFax, it does show "Minor collision repair reported" but it has little to no details.
I initially took the car to CARMAX to trade in for something else, and they told me that they "found" that the front panels were repainted. Now, I honestly don't know if they ran some VIN check, or a tech just looked over the car. I've been to other dealers, and have been forthcoming about the collision repair, but I usually get a REALLY low offer on my car, or I get turned away.
AnswerOk...this may sound crazy but this is what I would do. Most of us car dealers want to know everything we can so we can own your car as cheaply as possible. If I were you, I would find a car lot that specializes in selling that type of car, and try to trade it in there, and dont tell them anything about the damage. The less they know the better. If a car dealer is really that concerned about what has happened to the car, they can find out themselves. I hate to tell somebody to be dishonest but if everything is as you have stated and the car is just fine, but has a record, just play like you dont know and go with it. The other side of that deal is if the repairs were done as well as you stated, it should not be visible to somebody just looking at the car. If that car came across my lot, I would not even be looking for damage, it is a low mileage, late model nice car, that is all I would need to know, but that is not how most of the car lots think. They just want to own the car as cheap as they can, and will go to all links to do so. You might try and sell it on Craigslist. You might also try to find a report showing what caused the damage, and a repair bill showing that it was not as major as it may appear. The problem you run into is regardless of what may or may not have happened, people just freak out to see a major body damage repair bill on record, and there really is not a lot you can do about that but try and show all the proof you can, that it was not that bad. But if I were you, I would play stupid, and find who will give you the most and go with it.
